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Home > First Year > New App Can Detect Newborn Jaundice Without Invasive Blood Test

New App Can Detect Newborn Jaundice Without Invasive Blood Test

Melissa Willets

About the Author

Melissa Willets is a mom of three girls, one of whom is a newborn. She writes about pregnancy, parenting, home, health, and beauty. She loves running and drinking red wine - but never simultaneously.

About the Blog

WhatToExpect.com supports Word of Mom as a place to share stories and highlight the many perspectives and experiences of pregnancy and parenting. However, the opinions expressed in this section are those of individual writers and do not reflect the views of Heidi Murkoff of the What to Expect brand.

Thanks to technology, the University of Washington engineers and physicians have developed a smartphone app, BiliCam, that can detect newborn jaundice, a common condition that turns a baby's rosy skin yellow, by taking a photo — no invasive blood test is needed!

BiliCam works by comparing a photo of a baby's belly with a business card sized color calibration card. The card even accounts for different lighting conditions and skin tones. Data can then be analyzed by the app and send real time results to pediatricians and parents.

"This smartphone test is really for babies in the first few days after they go home. A parent or health care provider can get an accurate picture of bilirubin to bridge the gap after leaving the hospital," said James Taylor, University of Washington professor of pediatrics and medical director of the newborn nursery at UW Medical Center.

The UW team ran a clinical study with about 100 newborns. For the trial, they used a blood test, which is the standard screening test to detect jaundice, and then used BiliCam to test the babies when they were a few days old. Researchers found that this smartphone app was as effective, if not more so, at detecting jaundice than the industry standard blood tests.

"BiliCam would be a significantly cheaper and more accessible option than the existing reliable screening methods," said lead author and a UW doctoral student in computer science and engineering, Lilian de Greef. "Lowering the access barrier to medical applications can have profound effects on patients, their caregivers and their doctors, especially for something as prevalent as newborn jaundice."

Jaundice occurs in 60 percent of all babies, typically showing up two to three days after birth and lasting a week to ten days (sometimes longer for premature babies). In most cases jaundice goes away on its own (or sometimes with mild treatment) with no ill effects, and is usually caused by excess levels of bilirubin, an enzyme that is produced in the blood when the body breaks down old red-blood cells. Since a newborn's liver is underdeveloped, the bilirubin often doesn't get eliminated as efficiently, which can cause skin, and sometimes eyes, to turn yellow.

This condition is more likely to occur in little ones who lose a lot of weight right after delivery, in babies who have diabetic mothers, and in babies who arrived via induced labor. Bilirubin levels also tend to be higher in babies who are breastfed than in bottle-fed babies and may stay elevated longer (as long as six weeks). Many doctors advise feeding in the first hour after birth to reduce bilirubin levels.

I recall being in the hospital with my firstborn, watching a nurse prick my baby's heel and painfully, slowly squeeze her skin to extract blood for a newborn jaundice test. This awful procedure was repeated again and again for days to monitor her levels — it was my first experience with true heartbreak, watching her suffer to complete these tests. So, you can only imagine how excited I am about this new app — even if it is still in the development stages.

What was your experience with jaundice? Sharebelowin the comments section!